guy ritchie Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Could Madonna's Hollywood life fare any better as director? After seeing a tweet pop up from Production Weekly, I headed over to the Daily Mail to learn that Madonna has written a film called W.E. with Truth or Dare director Alex Keshishian, which she's planning to direct. This will be her second feature after the not-so-great Filth and Wisdom from 2008.

The first film was typical Madonna -- fetishes, re-appropriating iconic symbols (the Rocky Horrorish lips that graced the films poster). But this time around... The film is said to be a romantic comedy following a woman called Wally Winthrop. "The synopsis of W.E. states that Wally was 'named for her grandmother's passion' and there are fantasy and flashback scenes involving Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson who, after the Abdication, were styled the Duke and Duchess of Windsor." Wally marries a pediatrician and then, it seems, falls for a security guard.

The singer is currently getting help from the ex and trying to cast this thing and get enough star clout to get financed. Thus far, she's talked to RocknRolla names like Mark Strong and Toby Kebbell. The funny thing -- while no one seems to be recoiling from the thought of her as writer/director, they do not want her in front of the camera: "A couple of agents who represent distinguished thespians sought reassurances that Madonna was not going to act in the picture as well." The post follows: "'She would have said if she was to be in it. It's a game-changer. Some find it difficult to act opposite her. Ask Rupert Everett,' a denizen of Soho told me yesterday."

Anything is possible, but right now, I can't get images of Marie Antoinette restylized with a bipolar plot, Madonna covering all the tunes, and Wally swathed in black lace tops whilst kissing young girls for cred. You?

Earlier this summer, reshoot rumors were thick around Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes. One of the more believable ones was that Brad Pitt was stepping in to make an appearance as Moriarty, though it was clouded in so much "Pitt must save Ritchie!" hyperbole that it was almost impossible to believe. As always, there seems to have been some truth to the tabloid rumors, because The Hollywood Reporter says Warner Bros is already prepping more Holmes, and Pitt is in talks to play the detective's legendary adversary, Moriarty.

While neither Ritchie, Pitt, or producer Joel Silver will comment on whether Pitt already makes a shadowy appearance in the upcoming film. Those who have read the script say that Moriarty does appear, but is all mysterious and silhouetted, and it's impossible to see who he really is.

As Pitt debates whether or not he wants to pit brainpower and martial arts against the elementary Robert Downey Jr., the studio has brought on Kieran and Michele Mulroney, the team behind their Justice League: Mortal project to pen the script. Though nothing is official yet, THR notes "much of the talent," notably Downey, Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, and Ritchie are expected to return. (Mark Strong isn't mentioned. Spoiler or no surprise?) It's worth noting that if Pitt signs on and the line-up remains as is, there's only one native Brit in the entire cast of this very English classic.

The terribly handsome Jeffrey Dean Morgan clearly has a thing for action, adventure, and DC comic books. Collider sat down with him last weekend, and Mr. Morgan let slip that he's stepping into the Red Dawn remake. (He also let slip a few f-bombs that he shouldn't have told anyone, but we're glad he did, aren't we?) "I guess I'm more or less the old Powers Boothe character ... I'll be the old guy in it, which is cool ... I'm very much looking forward to it. But I'm going straight from here to Detroit which I can't imagine at this point."

Morgan also planted the first flag when it came to playing the part of Lobo, soon to be the star of a Guy Ritchie film. "That would be cool. Lobo would be very cool. I don't think that I'm as big as Lobo is, but if you could, like, transplant Mickey Rourke's body on my head, that would be just great. But I don't know. It's an untapped world for me as well. Every time I kind of hear about something I go out and get the book or I look it up on one of your guys' sites. We'll see."

Well, if he's reading this one -- Mr. Morgan, I suggest that you try to nab an audition for Jesse Custer. He's one of the few American actors that has the right amount of grit. Or do a reversal on The Comedian and play the ever-so-good Captain Marvel / Shazam. Or jump the DC ship and try out a little Dark Horse with Fear Agent. Lobo sounds cool from afar, but you've already got the biggest DC badass under your belt with the Comedian. Go with something more charming.

And here's one more director who's looking to throw their name in the comic adaptation hat, as Variety reports that Guy Ritchie will jump from Sherlock Holmes to a big-screen adaptation of the DC comic Lobo, about an interstellar mercenary and bounty hunter. The character, created by Roger Slifer and Keith Giffen, first appeared in an Omega Men issue back in 1983 as a sort of noir villain, though he was later reinvented as an anti-hero biker in the early 1990s.

Don Payne penned the latest draft, while Joel Silver, Akiva Goldsman and Andrew Rona will produce for Warner Bros. Production is set to begin next year on the film, which will be interesting because its lead character is, as Variety describes him, a "seven-foot-tall, blue-skinned, indestructible and heavily muscled anti-hero who drives a pimped out motorcycle, and lands on Earth in search of four fugitives who are bend on wreaking havoc." Apparently, Lobo will then team up with a teenage girl to stop the creatures.

I was loving the description until they got to the part where he teams up with a teenage girl? Really? Why? Really? Ugh. Should the film become a success, Lobo has crossed over and had run-ins with other DC superheroes like Batman and Superman, so the potential to do something Marvel-ish is there. The studio is aiming for a PG-13 flick, and I imagine something along the lines of Hellboy ... but with Guy Ritchie's familiar stop-go-punch style of filmmaking.

Any fans of Lobo out there? What do you think about Ritchie tackling the project?

More: Wanna know what a live-action Lobo movie might look like? Head over to SciFi Squad to find out.

It's only a matter of time before Guy Ritchie went back to the gangster filled underworld ... but he might do it to snappy showtunes. According to UK paper The Sun, Ritchie is reportedly itching to take on a remake of Guys and Dolls.

Supposedly, Ritchie and Jason Statham have been joking about writing a musical for sometime, one that would be "a cross between Worzel Gummidge and Bullitt." Now, Worzel Gummidge is a walking, talking scarecrow familiar to British children. He talks kind of like a Ritchie character, but I'm at a loss as to what a hybrid between Worzel and Steve McQueen would look like. Thankfully, we may never find out as he's willing to give up his Worzel Gummidge laced dreams for Guys and Dolls.

Rumors of a remake have been rampant for years (usually with Hugh Jackman's name attached), and with Damn Yankees being green-lit, it wouldn't surprise me if it's picking up some serious steam. Nor would it surprise me if Ritchie became attached, as he seems to be earning Sherlock Holmes goodwill. So, despite story's dubious origins and Madonna jabs, there's just enough here to make it worth talking about. If nothing else, we can use this space to bang the drum and remind whoever does land Guys and Dolls to cast Ewan McGregor as Sky Masterson. I'm still kicking myself that I missed him on the West End, and a movie would soothe those regrets nicely. Now, who to play Nathan Detroit ...

You'll never hear me say a nasty thing about Robert Downey Jr., as I have a lot of respect for the man and a lot of appreciation for the films he's done ... but having said that, I cannot help but express the following opinion: The trailer for his new movie looks like, well, like no Sherlock Holmes story I've ever seen. Obviously one can never judge an unfinished film by the quality of its promotional materials, but if this clip is what we can expect from the whole of Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, I'm ... well, I'm still interested. But now highly skeptical. And a little shocked.

I guess my main question is this: If your goal is to make a Victorian-era action comedy, and that sounds good to me, why must it be called Sherlock Holmes? (I'd suggest Sherlock Holmes and the Deluge of Weird Changes.) I'll leave it to the experts to pick the specific nits, but I'm betting the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories didn't have quite so many gunfights, boxing matches, explosions, and crotch jokes. At this point the thing looks like Young Sherlock Holmes meets The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vs. Van Helsing: At World's End ... which, I'll admit, could still be a lot of fun.

Some of us abhor vacuums, while others merely ignore them. Either way, those gaps tend to fill themselves, so that the willing world may indeed discover what a musical set to the tunes of ABBA must look like, or even how an urban answer to Guy Ritchie's twisty comic-violent crime capers would turn out.

Enter Benny Boom, a music video director with the most explosive name this side of Olivier Megaton and his sights set on transplanting one of those topsy-turvy capers from the underbelly of London to the shadier side of Philadelphia. It's a capable, if unremarkable relocation, because Next Day Air does exactly what a Snatch-savvy crowd would expect -- introduce maybe a dozen greedy criminals to one botched crime and let them fall all over each other to get the goods and get out alive -- and not much more.

The first trailer will be attached to Terminator: Salvation. Will we all start drooling like they did after ShoWest? I hope so. I really want this film to meet my expectations.

Blame this on Anderson Cooper and the exhaustive coverage of President and First Lady Obama's trip to London. I can never see my favorite city on television without wanting to board a plane, and since I can't do that right this moment, I must haul every British film out and watch it to get my fix of Anglophilia.

Of course, few London visitors get close to the underworld inhabited by Guy Ritchie -- though the Obamas might meet a few Snatch characters if they get close to the protesters. (I'm not talking the ones who actually are there for real reasons, I'm talking about the ones just chugging lager cans because, well, why not. If you saw any of the news footage, you know what I mean.) I can't find my favorite "Who took the jam out of your doughnut?" scene, so "Two minutes!" will have to do.

I can't believe this film is nearly ten years old. Remember 2000, when people still liked Ritchie, Swept Away wasn't on the radar, Brad Pitt was kind of edgy, and Jason Statham was an ordinary Englishman, not a ripped demigod? How time flies ... and the thought takes the jam right out of my doughnut.